LESSONS IN LIFE SKILLS OFFER HELP TO EXPATS IN HARD TIMES

In part one of a new series, Ramola Talwar Badam reports on the challenges faced by expatriates who must learn how to manage their finances in a different economy

Millions of workers who come to the UAE plan to buy a small plot of land in their home country, build a house or pay for their children’s education.

They come to the UAE with dreams. Not huge ambitions, but modest hopes, and more so for their families back home than themselves.

But sometimes along the way they flounder. The fancy restaurants, big shops, latest products and easy credit cards can derail even the best laid plans.

Life in the UAE teaches some tough lessons to workers trapped in debt, and it can take more than a decade for them to get back on track.

Others in small rooms and labour accommodation turn to people who can help them start a slow transformation to a better life, with drivers, supervisors and office workers attending financial planning classes and ferreting money into savings accounts to enjoy a peaceful retirement or start a new venture at home.

Then there are those who set aside time every Friday to learn English and new skills. Spending their one day off a week in a classroom to better themselves and improve their opportunities.

Many speak at least two languages but realise that with more than 150 nationalities in the UAE, English will help them to step up. In simple phrases and halting English, they describe their journey and their aspirations in their own words.

Here we tell the stories of a Ugandan woman who started as a bus supervisor but worked her way up to office manager; a Pakistani man who went from being a construction worker to a driver who can have an English conversation with his boss; an Indian man who earns only Dh2,000 a month but with the help of a financial literacy radio show has managed to buy a small house in his village back home; and a Filipino who fell into deep debt but through the help of Pinoy Wise managed to work his way out and up in life.

All of these people make up the fabric of the UAE’s workers who have left their families behind because they dream of a better future.